Car-door



(No Model.) 2 Sheets- Sheet 1.

J. W. CRUMBAUGH & L. O. PRATER. GAR DOOR.

No. 461,739. Patented Oct. 20. 1891.

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d/r" ATTOHNE Y8 (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. W. ORUMBAUGH & L. O. PRATER. OAR DOOR.

No. 461,739. Patented Oct. 20, 1891.

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ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN XV. ORUMBAUGI-I AND LEANDER C. PRATER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

CAR-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 461,739, dated October20, 1891.

Application filed April 2, 1891. Serial No. 387,454. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN W. CRUMBAUGH and LEANDER G. PRATER, of KansasCity, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Car-Doors, of which the followingis aspecification.

Our invention is in the nature of animprovement upon the car-doors forcattle-cars patented by usDeccmber 30, 1890, No. 443,956; and itconsists in the peculiar means for adjusting and operating the doors inconnection with the bridge, as hereinafter shown and described.

Figure 1 is a side view of the door closed. Fig. 2 is a perspective Viewof the same open and with the bridge in place, and Fig.3 is a verticalsection with the door closed and the bridge in place as a cross-bar.

X represents the car-body, having upon its side an opening for a door ofabout five feet wide. At the sides of this opening are hung the doubledoor-sections A B, two upon each side. The outer ones A of thedoor-sections are hinged to the car in a peculiar way and have aparallel swinging movement, swinging integrally from a position in frontof the opening to a position alongside the car-body and away from thefront of the opening and moving from the plane of the side of the caraway from the car and then back to the side of the car again. This iseffected bya set of crankshafts a b a, each having the same radius orthrow, so as to work in unison. The first one of these crank-shafts aextends the whole length of the door and is double-i. a, it has acrank-arm at each end, which are pivoted in bearings a on the car, whilethe body of the shaft turnsin bearings a on the door-section A. Thesecond crank-shaft 1) turns in a bearing 11 on the car, and also inbearings a on the door, and the third crank-shafts turns in a bearing aon the car, and also in bearings c on the door. These crank-shafts areeach placed out of alignment, so as to give the door an integral orparallel swing, and the shaft 0 is made to extend nearly the full lengthof the door and forms, also, the pintlerod or axial shaft, about whichthe radiallyswinging door-section B turns by means of its hinge-bearingsd, which are so arranged on the pintle-rod as to permit thisdoor-section B to be raised, if necessary.

In the edge of each door B there is arranged a long bolt 0, adapted tofit into eyes or keepers e e on the door-sill when the doors are closed,or into the eyes 6 e when the doorsections are open and parallel to thecar. I) is a hasp on one of the doors B, which is adaptedto fit over astaple D on the other door B and be locked by a pin D This latter has onits rear side an eye f, that slides over a vertical guide-rod f, whichkeeps it always in place. This pin has a crooked upper end for liftingit and a perforated lower end for securing it in the staple. Upon thecar, at the middle of the dooropening, is a flanged plate g, whichprevents the door-sections B B from being lifted after they are closed.

E is the combined bridge and cross-bar, which has the same function asin our previous patent-i. 6., it forms a bridge between the car-floorand the platform, over which the cattle may walk without danger offalling between and breaking their legs, and at other times it is hungup across the doorway, as in Fig. 3, and forms a crossbar, whichprevents the cattle from pressing against and straining or bursting openthe doors. This bridge has at one edge the slotted ears h, by means ofwhich it is. hung up in the notches h in the door-jambs, and the slotsin these cars serve as keepers or receptacles for the bolts 0 of thedoors when the latter are adjusted, as in Fig.2. At the other edge ofthe bridge is a long rod is, having eyes Z at its ends, which encirclevertical rods m, set in the door-jambs, and which serve to make a loosesliding connection between the bridge and the door-jambs, that allows.the bridge to be laid down upon the floor, as in Fig. 2, or be raised toform a cross-bar, as in Fig. 3, without ever losing its connection withthe car. In constructing the notches h and the rods m in the door-jambswe form or adjust these in false jambs J, which are securely bolted,screwed, or nailed inside the ordinary jambs. This prevents the cuttingaway of the jambs and gives increased strength to these parts. Thisconstruction'al'so permits our door to be applied to cars already in usewithout material alteration of or injury to the same.

G are metal clips or lugs placed on the inside of the swinging doors l3and adapted to bear when the doors are closed upon the top of the redhot the cross-bar and hold it down in its supporting-notch, so that itcannot be raised out of place by the cattle.

The advantages of this form of door are as follows:

First. The doors when opened only swing one-fourth the width of thedoor-opening, or onehalf the width of each double door, and it there isnot room enough between the car and the platform to permit this theswinging sections D may be raised up over the platform.

Second. There are no sliding connections for the doors either at top orbottom and no danger of their action being obstructed by mud or strawfrom the car-door.

Third. The action of the bridge is rendered free in its adjustment, sothat it cannot be obstructed by rubbish or freezing of the semifluidmatters.

Instead of using two double door-sections, we may use only one doublesection and one single section. Our invention may also be applied toother constructions or compartments besides cars.

Having thus described our invention, What we claim as new is 1. Thecombination, with a car or other compartment, of a door made in twosections hinged together, and a set of crank-shafts connecting one ofsaid sections to the car for a radially-swinging parallel motion,substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, with the door-sections A and B, of a singlecrank-shaft c, forming the axial shaft or hinge connection between thedoor-sections and arranged also in a bearing on the stationaryframe-work, substantially as shown and described.

The combination of the two-part hinged door A 13, having its section Bvertically adj ustable, and the ear-body having a stop lug or plate g tohold said adjustable section down when fastened, substantially as shownand described.

4. The combinatiomwith the bridge or crossbar E, arranged to be held innotches in the jainbs of the car-door, of the doors H, having lugs Gadapted to lock against the cross-bar and hold itdown in its notches,substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination, with the car, of the extra or false jambs J, havingnotches h and rods m and secured to the car, and the combined bridge andcross-bar E, hung upon rods m, substantially as shown and described.

JOHN V. CRUMBAUGII. LEANDER (7. PRATER.

Vitnesses:

EUGENE T. GILBREATH, WM. 0. IlnNRIcI.

